


Once Upon a While...

by rodtatekawa



Category: Street Fighter, World of Darkness (Games)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-06-08 07:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6844048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rodtatekawa/pseuds/rodtatekawa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>For the non-brazilians: IML stand for "Instituto Médico Legal", something like "Legal Medical Institute" and it is responsible for emitting all the obit certificates on São Paulo.</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. ... And now, for a taste of things to come

###### Seven years ago, somewhere on the Suzakujo mountains, Japan. 

A young man, in the middle of a forest, is facing a very large tree. Specifically, a tree branch right above his head. Using a black karate do-gi, this young man seems to be japanese in origin, but the slight higher-than-average height and his green eyes denounces his half-European heritage. 

  
He assumes a kamai (stance) he knows very well, and launch himself on the air, hitting hard the tree branch, but not breaking it. Landing, he places his hands on his knees, trying to keep his breath, and looking very disappointed to the tree branch.  
  
\- Very well, Hiroshy-san. – says an old Japanese man, on a black do-gi - You are getting better, but remember: if you don’t keep your knuckles outside, you will break your fingers.  
  
\- Maybe... But not… if I… hit… exactly under… the chin...  
  
\- Will break them anyway.  
  
\- How... do you... know… Sensei?  
  
\- Masters-san did it. And broke his fingers.  
  
\- OK, ok… That’s.... enough. Don’t… start again… with Ryu did this, Ken did that… Sometimes it seems you only had them as disciples...  
Gouken just give him a curious look, and then smile:  
  
\- Actually, this is quite precise. Well, let’s try something else...  
  
Gouken just start walking into the woods, wihtou waiting for Hiroshy. Used to that, Hisrohy just follows.  
  
\- Where are we going, sensei?  
  
\- I’ll know when we arrive.  
  
\- Meaning you don’t have a clue?  
  
Gouken just ignore the last comment and keep walking in silence. Hiroshy just observe how his master walks into the woods, the way he seems to never have to look where he is going to know where the path is, and can’t help thinking about how many times he did that.  
  
They arrive at a clearing, with some flowers on the edge and a small lake in the middle of it. Gouken looks around and, looking satisfied, turns to Hiroshy:  
  
\- It’s here. Seiza, Hiroshy-san.  
  
\- Wow... Nice place... – Hiroshy answers, looking around while he seats kneeled.  
  
\- I’ve brought you here because this is the place closest to the nature around.  
  
\- I can see that...  
  
\- As your sensei, it is my duty to teach you the technique of the mind, as I’ve been teaching those of the body. You must learn not only how to strike, but also how to feel your inner energy and that around you.  
  
\- Riiiight, Yoda.  
  
\- Humpf... Now Hiroshy-san, focus. Close your eyes, time your breathing and listen to my voice, but also the sounds around you. - Gouken crosses his arms and observes him from a distance – Feel your ki, feel the ki around you, and let them connect... Now, position your hands over your hara, as you are containing a sphere.  
  
Hiroshy places his hands over his stomach, as ordered. And then he feels, like everything else around him is warming, and warming him in the process.  
  
\- Yes, like that. Don’t fight it, just concentrate and follow the flow...  
  
He tenses for a moment, but then relaxes and keep concentrating, feeling that energy going through him  
  
\- Now, try to concentrate this energy on your hands.  
  
They stay there, Hiroshy feeling the energy, concentrating it but in the end letting it escapes. Gouken keeps orienting him, gently but firmly. And then, after a few hours, Hiroshy open his eyes and look to his hands. A little energy sphere is there, floating between them, pulsing...  
  
Hiroshy wakes later, Gouken looking at him worried.  
  
\- Are you OK, Hiroshy-san?  
  
\- I guess... Ouch! My head... What the hell happened? I remember looking to that tiny bright ball and...  
  
\- Look around us.  
  
Confused, Hiroshy looks around and notices a black scorched circle around him. He also sees that his master’s gi is burnt in several places.  
  
\- Holy shit... Did I do that?  
  
\- Quite an explosion, yes.  
  
\- Sensei, are you all right?  
  
\- Nah, you will need more than that to beat me.  
  
\- My head... Who the heck invited the thrash metal band?  
  
\- Thrash metal?  
  
\- Nevermind. What was that, sensei?  
  
\- Hadou. The energy wave.  
  
\- I don’t understand, but my head is a mess. I think I won’t be able to understand nothing for a while…  
  
\- Its natural. Conflict and chaos are part of the nature, and you connected deeply with it. You see, some people try to ignore this part of them, and live unhappy for all their lives. What you just did was like taking a shortcut, so a bit of confusion is expected. Next time will be easier.  
  
\- So I took a shortcut without being ready for it, and that’s why it feels like someone was poking my brain with a shovel?  
  
\- Exactly. You see, when you fight, you must feel the energy from the world around you, as you just did. You will be able to control it, but must also follows its commands.  
  
\- I don’t get it. But it seems a very crazy stuff.  
  
\- Again: quite precise. But it is enough for today. It’s almost dinner time.  
  
\- Great! I’m starving...  
  
\- In this case you should hurry and prepare some food. And... Well, for your information, none of my students did what you just did today.  
  
\- Is this good?  
  
\- Reckless. Risky. But it seems you have a natural talent for that. Connecting the the energy flow was the hardest part, now it is a matter of focusing on what you want to do with that.  
  
\- So I am actually better than Ryu and Ken on something?  
  
\- No.  
  
\- Damn... Sometimes you are a pain in the ass, you know?


	2. Emptiness

###### University of São Paulo campus. Thirteen years ago.

\- What a beautiful day... Something tells me that this will be a very good day.  
Speaking this out loud may seems strange, specially to the people around me at the cafeteria, but it makes me feel at peace. Ah, love is really something! My colleagues always says that I’m different. Happy, more than usual, but today... Today I’m happier than ever. People look at me as I am a weirdo, but I really don’t care. It’s been a while since I stop caring about people looking at me like my life is some type of soap opera...  
Well, its lunch time and Ivan, my best friend will arrive at any moment...   
\- Hey there, pal... Hiroshy? Are you there?  
\- Ahm? Oh, sorry Ivan. I was distracted reading this book...  
\- This RPG stuff will drive you crazy someday, you know?  
\- Well, who said that I’m not already nuts?  
\- Actually nobody. – Ivan answers, while calls for the waitress – So, are you going to the party tonight?  
\- Don’t think so. You know, I’m going to meet Joanne...  
Ivan looks at me, smiles and raises an eyebrow:  
\- Is it today?  
\- What? The Happy Hour?  
\- Oh my... No, your moron! You know what I’m talking about. The proposal, is it today?  
I smile, and look down a bit, somewhere between happy and embarrassed.  
\- Yes. This could be THE greatest fumble of my life, but I must do it today.  
\- Good luck then. And relax... – he says, while the waitress arrives – She will say yes.  
He starts telling what he wants to the waitress. Ivan is a great friend, and probably the only one to know all my story with Joanne. It is natural, he is at my side all the time since we were 12. Always there, no matter what... But not today. Today he cannot help me, he cannot be there at my side. "I hope I’m not precipitating thing... ", I think, touching again the box on my pocket. Well, they say that no pain, no gain. And I think I’ve took too long to do this. Probably will be a surprise to her, as I didn’t tell her why I needed to see her tonight so urgently. But again, she can read me better than anyone. She told me that she needs to solve some issues but, after that, she is all mine. So we agreed that I’ll wait for her on the restaurant. This will be hard to my anxiety, but I can manage it.  
Man, things are going very fast! It doesn’t seem that I’m studying Veterinary Medicine for three years. And three years that I’m dating Joanne. “Today is THE day!” I think...  
\- Do you want something, sir? – the waitress asks me  
\- Huh? Ah sorry. Let me take a look at the menu…  
Nothing is going to go wrong tonight!

###### Later, at that night:

I’m here at the restaurant for two hours already. Damn, my anxiety is literally killing me. My hands are shaking and sweating, my breathing is getting heavier and heavier. But I’m still happy. Tonight will be the best night in my whole life. I need to believe this or I’ll get REALLY nervous…  
Joanne said that she would call me before leaving. Nothing so far. Strange. She always calls when she is going to be late, and she is very late. The waiter is looking funny to me, a mix of impatience and sorry, as I’m asking a glass of water after the other. And there he comes again…   
\- Mr. Hiroshy Nagatsu?  
\- Look pal, I know I’m here for a while, but as I’ve told you, I’m waiting for someone and…  
\- I know. But there’s a call for you. – he says, offering me a wireless phone.   
\- Hello? – I say, smiling while wait for Joanne’s voice at the other end of the call.  
\- Hiroshy? - Weird... It is Ivan.  
\- Ivan? Hey man! How did you know where I was? Anyway, I can’t stay on the phone for long, I’m waiting for Joanne to call and…  
\- I’m caling about this. We have a... situation.  
\- Situation? What the heck do you mean?  
\- Look, I don’t know how to tell you this, and definitively won’t say it by phone. I’m going to pick you up.  
\- Ivan, look, as I said I’m…  
\- We are going to... meet Joanne and her family... – he says cutting me. Weird, he sounded like he was about to cry. But before I can say anything, he hangs up the phone.  
What the Hell is going on?

###### One hour later, at the IML’s morgue:

Pain. Anguish. Despair. Emptiness. I never really understood those words until now. It really feels like someone have ripped my heart out of my chest. When he arrived, his face told me that things were very bad. And when we arrived at the morgue, God forgive me, I was praying that, whatever had happened, had happened to one of Joanne’s relatives. Even her parents. But...  
Damn... Misses Candy, Joanne’s mother, was crying a lot and her husband was at her side, trying to be strong for her. And failing miserabily. None of them was in condition of doing whatever it needed to be done... Damn, so this is it. I was there to... I was supposed to... Damn! Why today??? Why ME??? I go inside, completely numb from the pain. I pray again, on that last seconds, for a mistake. But there were no mistakes. She was there. Dead.  
\- Can you confirm who it is?  
\- Yes. She is Joanne Kailler.  
After that there were some questions to be answered, some paperwork, things to sign... I do it all, but I really don’t know what I’m doing. What I’m signing. When I leave the morgue, her parents look at me, the same stupid hope I had seconds ago on their eyes. I just nod, and they crumble. Ivan is there too, the worry all over his face.   
He knows me for too long. He knows I never cry. Stupid pride probably. I didn’t cry at my grandparents’ funeral, and I spent most of my life with them. A rock, that’s how Ivan always refers to me at times like this. Well, I felt like a broken rock right now, but I need to be strong. Just a little more.  
\- Doctor? – I ask, after a while.  
\- Yes?  
\- What happened?   
\- Someone cut her throat. With something very sharp, I must add. By the state of your friend..  
\- Fiancée.  
Everybody on the room look at me surprised, even the doctor. Everybody except Ivan, that smiles for a second, before remembering what happened. I really don’t know what to think of his smile right now.  
\- Sorry. By the stat of your fiancée, she probably died of the bleeding. There isn’t any relevant quantity of blood on her body.   
\- At what time it happened?  
\- I can’t be sure, but I guess around eight and eleven PM.  
\- Any suspects?  
\- Nothing so far, or so I was told. Anything else?  
\- No. Thanks doctor.  
I turn around, walking outside. I can’t handle it anymore, I need air! Misses Candy and her husband are still crying. Ivan go to them and speak something, some comforting words I guess, and then chases me. He reaches me when I get to the street.  
\- Hiroshy?  
\- What?  
\- Are you OK?  
\- Do you really want to ask me that?  
\- Look, I know it must be hard...  
\- Do you? Really? Ivan, she died at the time she was supposed to meet me at the restaurant! This was supposed to be THE best day of my life and now… God, I’ll never know her answer! Man, I don’t even know if I’d had the guts to propose!!!  
\- But you said...  
\- I know what I said. I just... I don’t know. Seemed the right thing to do at the time...  
\- I’m sure she would be very happy with that. And that she would said yes.   
\- I don’t know that Ivan. And now… I will never know.  
\- Hiroshy...  
\- You know what kills me? I had every chance to do that before. To ask. To confess my love. I was sure about it for a long time man… But now, the only thing I know is that all that was good on my life is gone. That...  
Dammit, I’m crying... I hate this, hate not being able to hide my feelings anymore...

\- Hiroshy, I...  
\- No. Don’t even try. There’s nothing you can say or do right now. Nothing! I need... walk, need some air... I’ll walk home.  
\- Man it’s about 30 kilometers...  
\- Ivan, look at me. Do you really think it matters?  
He don’t even answer. He looks at me, in silence, and then start crying. And I leave, walking at first but, after a few steps, running. And I don’t stop until I reach my home. I think my pain is somewhat irradiating from me, as all dogs and people run from me when they see me. I punch a wall just before entering the building where I live. Damn, my hand hurts. I think I’ve broke something.   
God, this emptiness... This feeling... Please someone makes it stop! I walk to my bed and throw myself on it. I’m not drowsy, but my stupid mind somehow believes that if I sleep, tomorrow I’ll wake and all of it will be just a nightmare.  
Silly mind...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the non-brazilians: IML stand for "Instituto Médico Legal", something like "Legal Medical Institute" and it is responsible for emitting all the obit certificates on São Paulo.


End file.
